Remembering Kevin's Great Grandmother, Bubbie

Rest in Peace Bubbie

Mary Golembiewski

1923-2014

I am feeling most grateful for Bubbie’s 90 years of life. 

Grateful that my Dad and Mom were there with Aunt Theresa and Uncle Larry during Bubbie’s  final days. It gives me great comfort to know that she was surrounded with her family and not just with the Baptist Homes staff and Hospice that took care of her.

Grateful that I too, was able to have the opportunity to sit at Bubbie’s bedside and give her my love and comfort, it is an honor that I will always cherish. 

Grateful that my Aunt Theresa has been able to be there for Bubbie since Grandpap died almost 30 years ago. Being the caretaker comes with a lot of responsibilities and is never an easy job. 

Grateful that Bubbie always seemed to be living in the right place at the right time in her life. I have fond memories of visiting her on Rebecca Street, Gladiator Arms, Senior Care Plaza, and Baptist Homes. 

Grateful for Bubbie’s long life with us as a family. She was able to attend her Grandkids Weddings and know Michael’s fiancé these last few years. She was blessed with 6 Great Grandkids. She received pictures and letters to keep her well informed as the babies grew and became school age between our periodic visits. I especially love that the Great Grandkids will have their own memories of Bubbie from their visits to Pittsburgh and from her being with us to celebrate Christmas in Ohio several times. May they always know that it was from Bubbie that lottery tickets appear beneath our Christmas dinner plate and the Polish/Slovak tradition of breaking and eating Oplatky the Christmas wafer before dinner.  

Grateful that for my 40 years and 364 days of life I was able to say that my Bubbie was still with us, and all the memories that those 40 years include me. Summer visits with and without my parents; my first airplane ride with Bubbie to Pittsburgh; Christmas Eve Vigil Suppers at her house with Smelts, Perogies, Sauerkraut and Mushroom Soup with Babalky, and Kolacky; Easters at our house with Lamb molds, blown out and decorated Easter Eggs, and Easter egg hunts to find our own special big egg filled with goodies, yellow swivel chairs at her kitchen table to enjoy homemade chicken soup and chocolate pudding, and singing the nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush - “this is the way we warsh our clothes, warsh our clothes, warsh our clothes, so early in the morning”.

Grateful for my most cherished memory of being in my first years of marriage and Bubbie coming to my new house to stay with me and teaching me to make perogie, kolacky, and apple pie. I even recorded her on cassette tape interviewing her life story to make a family tree scrapbook for my family.

Grateful for our many short visits with Bubbie as we were traveling to or from Philadelphia for Kevin. One of my favorite times is when she lived at Gladiator Arms, the old school building, and Kevin had learned to walk and he was walking up and down and up and down the big hallway, charming Bubbie and all the ladies on her floor. 

Grateful for my most amusing memory of Bubbie, which was probably the last Christmas that she came to Middletown. After our Christmas meal, she instructed all the men in the family to clean up while the ladies went to the family room so that she could teach us how to crochet. I’m still jealous of my sister-in-law Dawn, one not related by blood to Bubbie, who was her star student. But I guess it is appropriate since Dawn is the one to carry the Golembiewski name…maybe she should be the next Bubbie. ;)

Grateful for seeing Bubbie shine during her Surprise 80th Birthday Party with all her family and friends. And a decade later, her last birthday, was one that was overflowing with love from 150+ birthday cards she received in the mail.

Grateful for Bubbie’s devotion to her Catholic Faith, Family, and Polish/Slovak Traditions.

I Love You Bubbie and will always remember and cherish my memories of you.

Left Foot in the Walking Track

I had started this post a while ago and forgot about it until I went to begin another post.

At the time that I took these photos, Kevin was struggling to walk 800 meters in the walking track. You can see in the photos the difference between his right and left foot. There has been some improvement from walking the track over the last month because now he is able to walk over a kilometer in the walking track.

We are still waiting for our Mollii control unit to be fixed and returned to us from Sweden. The last I heard was that they were fixing it and that it would be returned to us by the second week of October.

In the meantime, we have been busy trying to find other ways to help Kevin's left foot. We have been to see two different chiropractors and one Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) to do Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) and Neuromuscular Manipulation Medicine (NMM) to try to help adjust his left hip from rotating inward. This week we are going to try physical therapy with ultrasound. It has been somewhat stressful with the added appointments and all that it entails with meeting new doctors that are unfamiliar with our treatment with the Family Hope Center and explaining Kevin's history. I am thankful that our health insurance deductible was met this year due to my surgery so these added appointments are covered.

So for now we continue to integrate his reflexes, belly crawl, and walk the track. Sometimes we listen to Jake and the Neverland Pirate songs and say we are "walking the plank" other times we listen to Thomas the Train songs and say we are "walking the track" and other times we just walk, walk, walk. We love it when the neighbors stop by while we are walking too!